Check out the trailer and get set for the premiere screening of SAFSF’s documentary “Digging In” on June 11 in Washington, D.C. The film explores the interconnected issues of concentration […]
FOCUS AREA: Land Access
SAFSF uses focus areas to frame our policy, education, networking, and collaboration activities and offer multiple points of intersection for funders across our network.
The Issue
Finding secure access to land is the number one barrier preventing a generation of farmers from entering the field. The historical roots of unequal land access are entrenched in the culture of private land ownership and various forms of enforced labor and enslavement practiced by European settlers in America. Today in the U.S. 98% of farmland is owned by white people and 95% of farmers are white, the deliberate result of centuries of policies, laws, and violence that have dispossessed Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) of land and labor, while the contributions of these communities to building the country’s agricultural wealth have gone uncompensated and unacknowledged.
These policies, along with market shifts and the increasing economic pressure of coping with extreme weather due to climate change, have favored the largest of landowners and farming enterprises, leading to the disappearance of small and mid-sized farms owned by farmers of all races. The trend toward consolidation means that 41% of farmland is now operated by just over 7% of the country’s farms; 30% of farmland is owned by non-farmers; 40% of farmland is leased; and nearly 45% of landlords have never farmed.
Food sovereignty for Tribal nations and Indigenous communities, food justice for communities of color and low-income Americans, the ability of the next generation of farmers and farmers of color to make a living on the land and keep agricultural lands in production using sustainable and regenerative farming methods, all are contingent on the expansion of land access beyond the current landholding class of Americans.
Opportunities for Philanthropy
Community-level interventions
Philanthropy can directly fund programs that help diverse farmers – BIPOC, new and beginning, young, women – purchase and retain ownership of farmland through CDFIs and other lending and investment vehicles. Flexible grant funds can support tools and technical assistance for farm viability in both rural and urban environments; the establishment and sustainability of cooperative and other alternative models of land ownership/stewardship; support for equitable land transfer and succession planning; and regional and local food system infrastructure that provides markets for farmers of diverse backgrounds and scales.
Systems-level interventions
Nonprofits working to change federal agricultural and tax policies to level the playing field for smaller farms, socially disadvantaged farmers and farmers proactively employing climate-resilient stewardship techniques need financial support for their advocacy and lobbying efforts to effect policy change. Philanthropy can also support groups working to enact state and local policies such as those that prevent the loss of heirs property and provide secure long-term access to land for urban farming; advocacy for government policies that rematriate land and/or provide reparations for land theft; and policies that enable and incentivize cooperative forms of land ownership.
Learn More
Land Policy: Towards a More Equitable Farming Future – National Young Farmers Coalition
American Indian History Timeline – Indian Land Tenure Foundation
Land Grab Universities – High Country News
The Great Land Robbery – The Atlantic
Who Really Owns American Farmland – The Counter
RECORDING: Land Utilization and Heir(s) Property – USDA/Southern Rural Development Center 2020 workshop on Building Capacity for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers
Heirs Property – Farmland Access Legal Toolkit, Center for Agriculture & Food Systems
Partition of Heirs Property Act State Tracker – Uniform Law Commission
Farms for the Future: 20 Organizations Protecting Farmland – Food Tank
NGOs/Experts
This list is provided for information only; listing here does not imply an endorsement by SAFSF. Please do your due diligence as you would for any other contribution. Complete this submission form to add an organization that should be included here (self-reporting is encouraged).
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Black Land Access, Retention, and Sovereignty
This informational resource provides a sampling of organizations and funds that work to achieve land access/retention/sovereignty for Black farmers and Black communities in the U.S. Acres of Ancestry Initiative/Black Agrarian […]
Farm Bill Platforms from the Field – National Young Farmers Coalition
Join us to hear from the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) about their 2023 Farm Bill Platform. Vanessa García Polanco, NYFC Policy Campaigns Co-Director will walk us through the coalition’s policy […]
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WebinarsState Policy in Focus: 2023 Legislative Landscape with NCSL
From bolstering local food systems, regulating agricultural chemicals, to expanding farmers’ access to land, state legislatures have a significant role in incorporating sustainability and equity into the laws and policies […]
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WebinarsImpactful Learning with the SAFSF Indigenous Food Systems Community of Practice
Join 2021-2022 Indigenous Food Systems Community of Practice members as they share their experience on how to increase investment in Indian Country. Listen to the community of practices’ key takeaways […]
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Webinars“Digging In”: SAFSF Film Series Trailer
One Forum moment was unlike any other from past convenings: the debut of the trailer for the upcoming SAFSF short film series “Digging In” which will explore the issues of […]
CLOSING SESSION – Elevating and Resourcing BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) Farmers and Producers
Learn about efforts bringing together multi-ethnic farmers, farming groups, and allies to root our food and farming system in practices and policies that support BIPOC land stewards and help build health equity. […]
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SAFSF ForumIntersectional Impact Across Food, Fiber and Finance
CROATAN CONVERSATIONS presented by Croatan Institute Our warming climate, rising health problems, and hollowed-out communities are symptoms of the broken relationship between agriculture and capital. Recent examples have demonstrated that […]
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WebinarsAn Eye-Opening Look at Indigenous Food and Agriculture Systems: Funder Webinar
Presented by First Nations Development Institute and SAFSF Join SAFSF and First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) to learn about the beauty, complexity, and resilience of Native American communities and […]
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WebinarsOnline Funder Screening of ‘GATHER’
SAFSF is excited to host a free online screening and discussion of “Gather,” an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political, and cultural […]